The Awesome boys are back in town

The team behind Scotland’s funkiest golf clothing brand, Royal & Awesome (R&A), is returning to its home town of Gullane for the Scottish Open 2015 (July 9-12) to celebrate its three-year anniversary – and will be dressing up a local pub to kick off the party.

The successful Gullane entrepreneurs – brothers Fraser, Ali and Graeme Smeaton – and university chum Gregor Lawson will be donning their dazzling clothing at Gullane GC and are inviting fans to join them in the celebrations throughout the event.

The festivities, open to everyone, will reward anyone wearing the brand’s market-leading ‘Awesomes’ – the range of iconic trousers – with a free drink at The Old Clubhouse, in Gullane, which will also see its staff dressed in funky trousers and flat caps, a nod to the brand’s strapline of ‘for the pars and the bars’.
And R&A will be marking the occasion with a raft of giveaways and competitions on its popular Facebook page, which boasts a following of more than 170,000 golfers – much to the envy of many larger golfing brands.

With third-year sales up by more than 50 per cent on last year, R&A has much to celebrate, including the sell-out of several of its new designs in the first couple of months, and being on track to deliver another year of significant growth in 2016.

What’s more, the funky clothing brand is enjoying its third consecutive year of 50 per cent year-on-year growth – which has accelerated to more than 75 per cent in the last six months – and boasts more than £1.25m in total sales to date.

R&A is also an approved supplier to TGI Golf. Its spectacular clothing has been sold by more than 250 retailers and in 17 countries worldwide, including the USA – the world’s largest golf market – where its sales are more than doubling year-on-year.

The colourful brand has become synonymous with fun golf occasions – having featured at more than 500 events – through partnerships with charities, event organisers, travel providers, trick-shot specialists, celebrities and even guys getting their heads stuck in bins.

R&A brand director Graeme Smeaton said: “We are delighted to return to our hometown and the club where we all grew up playing golf. We can’t wait to meet and celebrate with friends and family who have played such a massive part in our ongoing success.

“We’ve had a hugely positive third year with a great response from consumers and trade, and have learned even more about the golf industry, so we’re now even better placed for future growth. It’s been a great first three years, but there’s still lots more to come.”

It’s hard to imagine that it’s only been three years since the Gullane entrepreneurs came up with the idea to marry the demand for bright colours with the history and heritage of golf to become R&A.

Fast-forward to 2015 and, thanks in part to a series of innovative campaigns, the spectacular brand has not only become the most-talked about golf clothing label on social media, but also generated impressive growth and helped to broaden the ‘everyman’s’ interest in golf.

The eye-catching designs of Scotland’s funkiest golf clothing brand have been donned this year by comedian Jack Whitehall, ex-England footballer Jimmy Bullard and West Indies international cricketer Chris Gayle.